Lifeboat Foundation

Legitimately awesome paper wherein Arulkumaran et al. assemble DNA nanotubes and use them to build artificial ‘cytoskeletons’ inside of giant unilamellar vesicles. They go on to make a variety of fun variations on this theme and eventually build artificial ‘tissues’ made up of these synthetic cell-like vesicles and an ‘extracellular matrix’ that is also made of DNA nanotubes. I find this paper impressive due to how performs precise engineering at the nanoscale and builds up layers of complexity until macroscale specimens are created in a fashion reminiscent of biological systems, yet unique in its own way. #biotechnology #nanotechnology #cellbiology #bioengineering

Building synthetic protocells and prototissues hinges on the formation of biomimetic skeletal frameworks. Here, the authors harness simplicity to create complexity by assembling DNA subunits into structural frameworks which support membrane-based protocells and prototissues.

Ampullary cancer is a rare type of gastrointestinal cancer with symptoms so similar to pancreatic cancer that it is sometimes mistaken for the disease. The definitive way to confirm an ampullary cancer diagnosis is by removing a tissue sample from the tumor, then analyzing it in the lab.

To learn more about this uncommon disease that accounts for only 1% of all gastrointestinal cancers, we spoke with Michael Overman, M.D., who treats patients in MD Anderson’s Gastrointestinal Cancer Center.

Article by John Gao, President of 5.5G Domain, Huawei

As industries increasingly lean on new digital technologies to streamline operations, digital twins are being used by business to generate complete and dynamic overviews of their assets and their processes. The Internet of Things (IoT) is key to realizing this vision. Following 80 years of development, RFID technology, which offers low cost and zero power consumption, is currently the most widely used technology in the retail and logistics industries that enables this. However, this technology application scenarios are limited. It is hampered by the very short distance it can transmit its signal, is relatively expansive to integrate and is not very advanced when it comes to automation.

By reducing costs and the need for labor, a passive IoT solution could make sensor networks far more economically viable. Passive IoT technologies could support two key IoT application scenarios and disrupt current logistics best practice and business operations. Passive IoT technologies could make sensor networks far more economically viable, while dramatically increasing the efficiency of warehouse stocktaking and other industrial processes by tracking hundreds of thousands of items over a 200m2 area in real time.

THE FBI website has some very useful tips to help regular people avoid bank-draining disaster scams.

One focus is romance scams which cruelly manipulate victims’ emotions as well as their savings.

FBI agent Jule Albretsen revealed some red flags of romance phishing scams in a video on the security agency’s site.

The twentieth century was a truly exciting time in physics.

From 1905 to 1973, we made extraordinary progress probing the mysteries of the universe: special relativity, general relativity, quantum mechanics, the structure of the atom, the structure of the nucleus, enumerating the elementary particles.

Continue reading “Why has there been no progress in physics since 1973?” »

Exclusive: party calls for developers without a licence to be barred from working on advanced AI tools.

A team of researchers have created a 3D reconstruction that reveals the face of Egyptian King Tutankhamun.

In 1922, British archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter discovered the almost intact tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings. This find received worldwide media coverage and sparked a resurgence of interest in ancient Egypt.

Tutankhamun’s reign has been the subject of much speculation. While the abundance of artifacts found in his tomb has provided a wealth of information about the boy king, a number of mysteries regarding his life and death persist, including the state of his physical health.

Biologists are finally beginning to corral molecules, cells and whole organisms to carry out complex computations. These living processors could find use in everything from smart materials to new kinds of artificial intelligence.

By Edd Gent

A former intelligence official turned whistleblower has given Congress and the Intelligence Community Inspector General extensive classified information about deeply covert programs that he says possess retrieved intact and partially intact craft of non-human origin.

The information, he says, has been illegally withheld from Congress, and he filed a complaint alleging that he suffered illegal retaliation for his confidential disclosures, reported here for the first time.

Other intelligence officials, both active and retired, with knowledge of these programs through their work in various agencies, have independently provided similar, corroborating information, both on and off the record.